Sheri’s Rants # 36: So You’re Not Perfect.

Say you’re having a hard time getting your ‘head in the game’. Maybe you’re pulling yourself together after a trip to the ‘ol family of origin, returning from a vacation, healing after an injury, or recovering from a head cold. OR MAYBE you’ve been cruising along, dropping fat and enjoying yourself and suddenly, BAM – you needed a pile of cookies and can’t get your head back straight. Or maybe you’re new at this game, and you’re struggling with getting started with your food journaling. You could even have reached your goal weight and suddenly the floor dropped out from under you, you’re swimming in Doritos and you don’t know what happened. Or how to ‘get back’.

MAYBE you’ve been cruising along, dropping fat weekly, feeling incredible – and suddenly you can’t stand it. Suddenly you find your self ‘screwing up’ in ways that boggle your brain. Screwing up just enough to not drop fat, screwing up just enough to support that piece of your brain telling you that you’re a loser, screwing up just enough to feel bad. But not screwing up enough to gain all that weight back…in fact, the screwing up feels kind of subconsciously calculated, when you think about it…

Everyone has their own learning curve. Everyone has their own time frame. And everyone has their own little special brand of ‘funny thinking’ going on in their head that has to be addressed. Everyone. Very few of us are immune to Diet Head, and fewer of us are immune to years of mental programming on the self-destruct mode. Way too many of us have a voice in our heads listing the ways in which we fall short, all through the day. OUCH.

Listen. We all have work to do in our heads. All of us. And in my experience – you’ll do that work at the beginning, you’ll do that work in the middle, or that work will be done at the end. But you’ll do the work. That’s what keeps your body healthy – is your brain being on track with you, working for you, and acting like it likes you. (In other words, any time your brain is telling you that you suck, that’s your brain NOT working FOR you, okay?)

YOU’RE CHANGING YOUR BODY. YOUR BRAIN HAS TO CHANGE. YOUR THINKING HAS TO CHANGE. AND THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE.

There were reasons your body got in the shape it was (or is) in. And those reasons have to process out.

No, it doesn’t mean you need years on ‘the couch’. It does mean you’ll need to keep taking care of your self through it, and you’ll probably want some accountability and reminders. That is what coaching is all about.

WHAT TO DO:

1) Do your best. When you go off track, first see what you can do about making ‘better’ choices. Do your best. See if you can move away from thinking about being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and shift into ‘making better choices’ or ‘not paying attention’. See? Black and White, good and bad, right or wrong – that is ‘funny thinking’ territory. You want the grey area of self care, or not paying attention to self care. In other words, DOING YOUR BEST with where you are, right now. Sometimes your best will be journaling and eating to your planned menu. Another day your best will be eating a chocolate chip cookie, because that is where your head is.

2) Get all the crap food out of your house. If it is in your house, you will eventually eat it. That is why it is there. Duh!

3) Think about ‘increasing self care’. Keep it that simple. And ride it out. We all go ‘through it’.

4) DO NOT GIVE UP. Giving up never feels good, and it feeds that piece of your head that you are working on healing. Hang in there. Ride it out.

5) Get into the support forum and do some sharing. Ask for help. Get some advice and support from folks who have been there.

I think this is very well said. There really is no end. We are never “done”. I have found that attention and awareness are my keys to riding out the rough spots. I’ve also come to use the analogy of “pot holes”. We all hit them, some are deeper than others. Sometimes you get a flat tire. But once we hit them we now know where they are. We can then work to avoid them and eventually fill them in.

It’s been almost 3 yrs since I have been on my own( no coaching). It’s been a wild ride of discovery. This rant helped immensely, in re-confirming I am not perfect! When I take a detour from the Healthy path I…STOP…process the committee meetings going on in my head, usually Sheri is the Head CEO talking to me…and, then I repeat…” My body achieves what my mind believes.” Some might describe this as a meditation mantra, I call it my daily prayer of affirmation.
Thanks Sheri!!!
Hugs,
Badmoon